History Of The Margarita

Margarita who we, lovingly refer to as the grand lady of cocktails.

Just like her exotic combination of flavours the stories of her past as equally exotic and mysterious.

 

THE LEGEND

 

As legend has it there are two main contenders for the invention of the Margarita.

The first is claimed by a Mexican restauranter “Carlos Danny Herrera”. There are many reports that he created the cocktail in 1938 for an actress called Marjorie King.

Marjorie was allegedly allergic to all alcohol other than tequila. (Not a bad problem to have in my humble opinion).

To make the tequila more palatable for Marjorie, Carlos combined the traditional tequila shot elements into a salt rimmed glass.

 

AROUND THE SAME TIME  THE MARGARITA MAKES AN APPEARANCE IN SOCIAL CIRCLES

 

The most popular story originates with the entertaining and vivacious 1940’s Texan socialite Margarita Sames. Sames is said to have “whipped up” the drink with her favourite ingredients of Cointreau and Tequila for friends at a social gathering in 1948.

Believing that a cocktail is first drunk with the eyes, a salt rim and a slice of lime was added to the glass. She was confident that the salt would add a savoury element and enhance the flavours of the combined liquors.

One of her guests at the time was the Hotelier Tommy Hilton, who later included the Margarita to his bar menu for his hotel chain.

This story is often brought into contention as popular Tequila brand Jose Cuervo was running advertising campaigns in 1945 with the slogan “Margarita: It’s more than a girl’s name.” According to Jose Cuervo, the cocktail was invented in 1938 by a bartender in honor of Mexican showgirl Rita de la Rosa.

 

A LITTLE BIT OF HOLLYWOOD

 

Several theories around suggest that the popular cocktail was named after Hollywood legend Rita Hayworth, whose real name was Margarita Cansino. Before her Hollywood fame Hayworth was a Tijuana dancer.

Wherever she originated from we are happy that she was created. It’s a drink we love, of course the higher quality ingredients that you use the finer distinctions in the taste.

 

OUR BEST MARGARITA TIP

 

Order or make your Margarita with a half salt rim on the glass.  The salty taste won’t then over power the deep flavours of the tequila, triple sec or Cointreau.

Of course our blog wouldn’t be complete without our own version we lovingly refer to as the Lazy Margarita.